Syrian troops kill over 100
Damascus, April 7
Syrian troops pounded opposition areas, activists said, killing 74 civilians in an offensive that has sent thousands of refugees surging into Turkey before next week's UN-backed ceasefire aimed at staunching a year of bloodshed.

ON THE BOIL: Destruction in the restive city of Hama after clashes between
Syrian government forces and rebel groups. — AFP

Yemen’s main airport closed after attack threat
Sanaa, April 7
The airport in Yemen's capital was shut down today after forces loyal to a general close to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh threatened to attack landing and departing aircraft, an airport source said.

Malawi Vice-Prez takes over after Mutharika’s death
Lilongwe, April 7
Malawian Vice-President Joyce Banda took over in the southern African nation on Saturday after the death of President Bingu wa
Mutharika, and fears of a succession struggle receded as top officials and the army backed the constitutional handover.

Moscow, April 7
A Russian-Ukrainian sailing crew that went missing on a historic expedition around the South Pole is alive and made contact today as it battled through Antarctic ice with its fuel running low.

The Scorpius sailboat, which went missing. — AFP

memo
case
Commission seeks Haqqani’s presence during hearing
Islamabad, April 7
The judicial commission probing a mysterious memo that sought US help to stave off a possible coup has directed the Pakistan government to ensure former envoy Husain Haqqani's presence during a hearing on April 12.

Oz military hit by sex scandal
Melbourne, April 7
The Australian military has been rocked by a sex scandal after a 23-year-old soldier was arrested over the alleged rape of a civilian woman at a military college.

Damascus, April 7
Syrian troops pounded opposition areas, activists said, killing 74 civilians in an offensive that has sent thousands of refugees surging into Turkey before next week's UN-backed ceasefire aimed at staunching a year of bloodshed.

At least 15 rebels and 17 security force members were also killed, raising the death toll in violence to over 100.

Each side has accused the other of intensifying assaults in the run-up to the truce due to take effect early on Thursday if government forces begin pulling back from towns 48 hours earlier in line with UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan.

The military shelled Deir Baalba district in Homs, killing four people, the grassroots Local Coordination Committees opposition group said. Thirteen men were also found killed in cold blood in the same area, it said.

Amateur activist video showed scenes of carnage said to be the aftermath of the shelling. Mangled limbs and body parts in blankets were being loaded on a pick-up truck. A second video showed 13 men who appeared to have been tied up and executed.

No comment was immediately available from Syrian officials.

The videos could not be independently verified. The government has placed tight restrictions on media access in Syria.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 74 civilians had been killed, including 40 in an army attack on al-Latmana, in Hama province, that began on Friday. The rebel Free Syrian Army lost 15 men in the battle, it said, and 17 members of the security forces were killed across the country.

In an activist video from al-Latmana, mourners held aloft the limp corpse of a child. A row of bodies lay on the ground.

The Observatory report said 12 were killed by shelling as the army swept through villages in Idlib province. A rocket hit a bus travelling from Lebanon to Syria at Jousa just inside Syria, a Lebanese security source said.

Witnesses said six Syrians were killed. Lebanese medics confirmed two dead and nine wounded. It was not clear who had fired the rocket. Rebels trying to oust President Bashar al-Assad attacked army posts north of Aleppo before dawn, killing an officer and two men, and assaulted a helicopter base, activists said.
— Reuters

Pakistan President Asif Zardari on Saturday said he did not think Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would ask him for handing over Hafiz Saeed during their luncheon meeting on Sunday.

“I adhere to Pakistan’s official position on Hafiz Saeed,” Zardari said while talking to journalists in Lahore. He was asked what would be his response if the Indian premier demanded custody of Hafiz for trial on allegedly masterminding the Mumabi attack.

“I don’t think Manmohan Singh is going to ask for that,” he added. Pakistan maintains that the Indian government has not provided any concrete and credible evidence of Hafiz’s involvement.

This will be Pakistani President’s first but private visit to India since assuming office in 2008 and the second by a Pakistani head of state in seven years since Pervez Musharraf visited New Delhi in 2005 to watch India-Pakistan cricket match.

Officials here, while underpinning the private nature of the visit, said the President has appreciated Manmohan Singh’s gesture. It would provide an occasion to the two leaders to discuss important bilateral issues and hoped it would give further impetus to the ongoing dialogue process which has been making steady progress. They, however, cautioned against expectations of any spectacular outcome while insisting that the talks would be informal and cordial but hardly substantive.

Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said the lunch woul help promote “peace and prosperity in this part of the world and we are looking forward for a constructive engagement between the two leaders”.

Analysts here believe that the meeting could nudge officials from both sides to move towards resolution of some of the less contentious issues where considerable progress has already been achieved. One of these is Siachin where both armies are stuck up in one of the world’s highest altitude conflict.

President Zardari has shown keen interest in promoting trade relations and both leaders would most likely have fruitful discussion. Zardari will reaffirm Pakistan’s commitment to normalise trade ties by phasing out major restrictions on Indian imports by the end of the year and grant India most favoured nation
(MFN) status.

Sanaa, April 7
The airport in Yemen's capital was shut down today after forces loyal to a general close to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh threatened to attack landing and departing aircraft, an airport source said.

The airport has been surrounded by forces loyal to air force chief General Mohammed Saleh al-Ahmar, Saleh's half brother, who has refused to step down after being sacked by President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, the source said.

"No aircraft has taken off or landed since these forces made their threat late on Friday," the source said, adding that the troops surrounding the airport were backed by members of the Hamdan tribe that supports former strongman Saleh.

These men were led by Naji Jamaan, a Hamdan tribal chief, the source added.

Ahmar has refused to step aside unless several senior defence ministry officials, including the minister himself, also leave, a military source said on Saturday.
— AFP

Lilongwe, April 7
Malawian Vice-President Joyce Banda took over in the southern African nation on Saturday after the death of President Bingu wa Mutharika, and fears of a succession struggle receded as top officials and the army backed the constitutional handover.

Banda, a 61-year-old women's rights activist and education campaigner, was due to be sworn in as president later on Saturday in the Chinese-built National Assembly in the capital Lilongwe, officials said.

She will become southern Africa's first female head of state. The government only officially confirmed 78-year-old Mutharika's death earlier on Saturday, two days after he had died following a heart attack.

His body had been flown to a military hospital in South Africa. The delay in the announcement had raised worries about a political crisis.
— Reuters

Kabul, April 7
At least ten Taliban insurgents were killed and 14 others captured in joint operations by coalition and local forces in different parts of Afghanistan, authorities said today.

Eight joint operations in northern, southern and eastern regions of the country resulted in the killing of "10 armed insurgents," Afghanistan's Interior Ministry said in
a statement. One insurgent was also wounded and 14 others arrested, it said.

The joint operations were carried out in the troubled southern Kandahar and Helmand provinces, as also in northern Badakhshan area and eastern Nangarhar province, which borders Pakistan.

No Afghan or International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) casualties were reported in the joint operations.

The Interior Ministry statement came a day after a Taliban suicide bomber killed the head of Kunar's peace council, which was formed by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to facilitate peace talks with the insurgents and opponents of the government.

Killing of Mowlawi Mohammad Hasem Munib is a major blow to Karzai's effort towards peace talks.

Taliban have stepped up operations against Afghan government and coalition forces in recent weeks.
— PTI

Moscow, April 7
A Russian-Ukrainian sailing crew that went missing on a historic expedition around the South Pole is alive and made contact today as it battled through Antarctic ice with its fuel running low.

The ambitious eight-strong team on the Scorpius yacht did not make contact earlier this week as gale-force winds slowed its progress. But the captain said in an email that the crew was in good health, the expedition's spokeswoman Anna Subbotina said.

"They contacted us with an email last night. The ice conditions were very severe, and currently they are going toward the mainland because they are running out of fuel and other supplies," she told AFP.

The 29-metre (97 foot) yacht was cut off from communication for several days after water damaged its satellite antennae during a storm on the way to Deception Island.

Currently the crew has fuel for only two-and-a-half days, and has decided to sail towards the Chilean mainland by circumventing the South Shetlands. "They are forcing their way through the ice, travelling very slowly," she said.
— AFP

Islamabad, April 7
The judicial commission probing a mysterious memo that sought US help to stave off a possible coup has directed the Pakistan government to ensure former envoy Husain Haqqani's presence during a hearing on April 12.

The three-judge commission appointed by the Supreme Court said the Interior and Foreign Ministries should ensure that Haqqani appears before the panel with his BlackBerry sets and relevant material.
— PTI